Fast forwarded the Potter TimeLine to make this work. It's fan-fiction after all. Nothing belongs to me yada yada yada. Just playing. All credit due where due.
Nick Fury sighed and picked up his desk phone. A quick call to assemble the newly reunited Avengers and he braced himself for the confrontation to come.
He stood at the window, overlooking the deck of the Helicraft, watching the Avengers enter the room in the reflective glass. Tony Stark aka Iron Man and Bruce banner aka The Hulk entered first, talking animatedly, all science and long words no one else understood. Thor entered next, his presence as large as life, his voice booming out in greeting. Behind him, more sedate yet watchful came Natasha Romanoff and Clinton Barton bickering affectionately, the Black Widow and Hawk-eye respectively. Steve Rogers, aka Captain America came last, a large tray of Starbucks coffee cups balanced on one of his powerful hands, a doughnut box in the other. Fury rolled his good eye as the group bantered and argued over the box of confectionery before settling into seats around the large conference table with their beverages and pastries.
Nick took a sip from his own cup of liquid fortitude and gave Steve a grateful nod before metaphorically girding himself for battle. The information he was about to impart was secrete to the highest level. He was only able to tell this team because it directly affected a key member who would never agree to keep it from the team once they knew. How this person was going to react was anyone's guess, but Fury knew it would not be with cold disinterest as the higher ups hoped. He'd seen this person's heart more then once. And he knew the Avengers better then anyone.
Turning away from his thoughts he raised his head and caught the attention of everyone at the table in an instant, his face was so grave.
"Just prior to New Mexico, a very old hidden Hydra base was discovered quite accidentally by a team of explores in Alaska. There wasn't much there, nothing we hadn't seen before but one of our lads did find some very old files, taped to the back of a set of filing cabinets of all places." He took a breath and focused his one eyed gaze on Natasha.
"They were your files Romanoff. It seems like the red room did more to you then anyone ever knew." Natasha's face was blank. Not a flicker of emotion. She shrugged, "Tell us something we didn't already know Director." Nick nodded, understanding. Natasha was asking for professionalism, just the facts Sir, using her training to shield her from whatever was coming.
"Before they preformed the procedure to.. sterilize you.. you were given a series of injections. These caused your ovaries to produce a number of eggs which were harvested." Fury watched her face, saw the tiny betrayal of emotion, the pure rage and agony in her eyes, just for a moment. Beside her Hawk-eye placed a hand, gently, over hers. It was telling that she didn't flinch or move away.
"Most of the eggs apparently 'failed' we still have people trying to decipher what they were doing with them, it's all in code. But whatever they'd planned for them didn't come about once the Red Room fell. We did discover that a medical intern, Arnold Hahn, escaped the fall, taking several samples with him. It took a while to follow all the leads but it seems only one child of your blood was ever born, and that is where the story gets very interesting."
Natasha froze and blinked. A child? Her head snapped up.
Fury continued. "Arnold Hahn escaped the Cold war and came to America. He put himself through college and medical school, specializing in Obstetrics. He met with a young couple, one Iris and Harold Evans, who wanted a second child. This was the late, late 1970's, they had a young daughter but couldn't seem to conceive again. No one knows why but Dr Hahn somehow managed to impregnate Iris Evans with the last surviving egg he stole from the Red Room. We can't even ask him, he died three years later from a heart attack."
Silence. Fury took a cautions breath and continued. "Lily Jean Evans was born on the 30th of January, 1980. Her school records, medical files, even old photos are all here, in this file. Right up until her Eleventh birthday. Then she simply disappears. Her parents do not report her missing, insisting she is away at boarding school and her regular reappearances during Holidays and the Summer would suggest as much. BUT we couldn't find any record of her attending any Boarding School in the United Kingdom's. Nor could we find any school reports, test scores or even any essays done by a Lily Evans. However there is a picture of her and several friends in what are clearly graduation robes. It was among the few of her parents effects we were able to track down. Hidden in a storage locker outside of Little Whinging, Surrey of all places." Natasha fixed her eyes on him suddenly intense.
"1980. She's still alive? Where is she?" Everyone winced, the hope and longing was so sharp in Natasha's voice. The Super Spy didn't even try to hide her hope, here with friends.
Fury swallowed. This bit would not go down well. "I'm sorry Natasha." she flinched hearing her given name. This would be bad. "Lily J Potter, nee Evans and her husband James Potter died under mysterious circumstances on Halloween night, October 31st 2001. No one knows what happened to their bodies after they disappeared from the Bristol Morgue before they could be examined.
Natasha stared at him. "There's more, isn't there." she said flatly. There was no tell but the Super Spy was struggling with a wild rush of emotions. In the space of minutes she'd had a child, a daughter, and had her snatched away just as fast.
Tony leaned forward, his eyes narrowed, an expression being quickly mirrored around the table. They hated it when he withheld information from them. In this case it was because they just didn't have it. It frustrated Fury to only have parts of the puzzle.
"They were survived by their infant son, Harry James Potter. Somehow, again no one really knows how, he wound up on his maternal Aunt's doorstep in the early hours of November 2nd."
He looked directly at Natasha. "He's about nine, ten years old I'd reckon." He tapped the file in front of him as if in thought. "The higher ups don't want you interfering. They know something but aren't' sharing." He shot Stark a sidelong glance. "So I can't give you this file on the Dursleys, the Aunt and Uncle, in Little Whinging, Surrey." he saw Stark's fingers twitch. "Oh, and we don't actually have any international crisis at the moment for you lot to make worse, or any aliens to fight, or lunatic gods.." he shot Thor a look who just grinned, "So I guess your all on Leave for a bit. Stay in touch." and he left the room. What he did not know couldn't bite him in the ass. He hoped.
It didn't take long. A shared look and the Avengers relocated to the Stark Tower. They were only slightly less likely to be spied on there and it could only be Tony anyway. Natasha had been silent, processing all the information and emotions she wasn't used to feeling. One thought kept going through her head. She had BLOOD family. A grandson. Now that was weird. She didn't look old enough to have a grandson, even if she was, technically, more the eighty years old now.
It didn't take Tony long to swipe Shields files, not to pull up as much information on the Dursleys and their nephew as he could. What he found wasn't reassuring.
Vernon Dursley, the uncle was a Director at a firm called Grunnings. He wasn't well liked. Pictures showed an immensely obese walrus like man with a rather magnificent blonde mustache. His wife, a housewife, was a thin bony woman with a long neck and tightly styled blonde hair. She looked like she'd smelt something nasty. It seemed the two had managed to procreate, proving it was possible for inter-species mating, and had a son they'd, cruelly, name Dudley. Tony had taken one look at one of the boy's school pictures and dubbed him a 'Pig in a wig'. Pepper had smacked him and scolded him for being mean to a child. Tony pouted and pointed out the kid wasn't even there to hear it. Pepper glared and Tony, wisely, shut up.
The only picture they found of Harry was from First Grade, he was in the class picture, tucked in at the end of the front row. He was tiny, easily the smallest in the class and seemed to be drowning in clothes five times too large for what was obviously, to sharp eyes spies and heroes, a very spare frame. Familiar brilliant green eyes framed by battered black spectacles on a serious face peeked out from under absolute mop of messy dark hair. Natasha stared hungrily at the small boy. He was still so young, she realized. She could actually get to know him.. be a part of his life. She shook herself. She was the Black Widow for Christ sake She couldn't just go grab this kid and play Happy Families. He doubtlessly wouldn't want to leave his family anyway. Yet a little voice nagged that she should just go and check on him, she didn't have to interfere, just observe. They wouldn't even know she was there.
Clint knew Natasha better than he knew himself these days. He saw it on her face before she could speak it and cut her off.
"You're not going to England alone Tasha, I'll go with you. We'll check up on the kid and get back before Fury knows we're even out of the country, OK?" Natasha nodded, smiling her thanks at her long time partner. Steve volunteered to join them, mostly to avoid Tony's attempt to 'educate' him of all things technological. Tony offered them one of his smaller, more discrete planes for the trip. And so the Archer, the Professional Assassin and the Super Soldier headed for Ye Olde Great Britain with the sunrise.
Steve regretted his decision to join this little expedition. Right now he was sitting on Natasha whilst Barton frantically tried to talk the furious woman down. Calm and reason was not working. With a sigh Steve moved in, pinched a certain nerve in Natasha's neck and felt her go limp. Sighing he got off her back and gently moved her to a sofa against the wall. Super serum or not he was going to feel this one tomorrow.
"So what are we going to do, we got to get the kid out of there before she kills that fat bastard!" Steve flushed, he didn't usually swear.
"We could just let her"
"Agent Barton!"
"Uh uh.. we're on Leave remember." Clint grinned at him then retook his spot watching the house across the street. Number 4 Privet Drive looked as normal and as cookie cutter perfect as it's fellows in the street but the three watchers knew better.
They'd been there just three days, and no one had a clue. Moving around at night, using stealth and darkness had given the trio far more insight into the not so little residence of Number 4. Their first day there Clint had snuck into the house and peppered it with listening devices. He'd seen a few things that had made him burn with silent rage.
The first time they'd had to stop Tasha losing it was when they'd had to watch the too small and painfully thin nine year old Harry struggle through a mountain of outdoor work a grown man would have found hard to complete. Hot sun beat on a bare head and he seemed to be sneaking tiny sips from the hose whenever he could but hours passed whilst the Dursleys stayed within the cool house and the boy slaved in the yard. It was almost dark before he was called in, his Aunt's strident voice disturbing a pair of doves playing in the bird bath.
Then he'd had to grab Hawk-Eye after witnessing the Fat Bastard' as Vernon was now known, shoving the little boy into a cupboard beneath the stairs and locking him in.
Listening to the verbal abuse little Harry bore each day was torture. The dull founds of thumps and thwacks against skin had them grinding their teeth. Apparently Dudley used Harry as a punch-bag.
Tonight Vernon had been angry. The three of them heard it all. Tasha lost it.
A hissed argument between Steve and Clint saw Hawk-eye slipping out to 'play'.
Steve wasn't expecting him to steal the kid!